Some did a double-take last month when the Jaguars hired Mike Sheppard as their quarterbacks coach and I pointed out that Sheppard coached Dirk Koetter.

But the two do indeed go that far back when Koetter was a quarterback at Idaho State and Sheppard coached quarterbacks and receivers there.

I was finally able to speak with Sheppard this week and I'll save a lot of what we talked about for an upcoming story. I was interested to know how a lockout and not being able to communicate with the quarterbacks would impact his transition here.

He said since he got hired he met with David Garrard once early on and has spoken on the phone with Todd Bouman and Luke McCown.

One topic we discussed was his connection to the Jaguars offensive coordinator.

"It's always fun when somebody you've coached and spent time with, I coached with his dad and knew his family well, it's always fun to follow somebody like that and watch their career grow... and he's doing exactly what his father did," Sheppard said.

Koetter was the head coach at Arizona State before becoming the Jaguars offensive coordinator. He was a finalist for the Denver Broncos head coaching position earlier this offseason.

"I always felt he would become a good coach because of his blood lines and two because he's very bright and I think he knew that he could become good at that," Sheppard said. "... I think he's in the right profession and I'm proud of him really, proud of what he's achieved. Therefore it's fun to be here and be a part of it."